Since most of Pam’s activities revolve around the kitchen area we decided that we would need to do something fast to correct this nasty and forgotten area of the house. With that thought in mind the kitchen was designated as the next priority. As you can see from the before photos this area had some serious problems, actually more than we were aware of. Our immediate concern was to establish some sort of functionality in the room. We first thought perhaps we would renovate the kitchen first before the living room but I wanted to see some progress being made and chose the lesser of the evils. Who knows it is likely that the kitchen will undergo a number of transformations in the future.

We started with a couple of coat of fresh paint on the walls and woodwork. This helped a lot. It is amazing what a little paint can accomplish for a room. We carefully looked at all the kitchen appliances (stove and dishwasher were the only appliances in the home) and decided that the filth was too much. I went out and purchased a new dishwasher and stove for Pam. We still had our refrigerator so we put that in place. Even a good scrubbing couldn’t help those appliances that were in the home.

It was almost too fearful to start taking pictures of our new home. From one room to the next all we see was vast amounts of filth. Nasty surroundings greeted us at every corner of the home however during our pre-cleaning phase when all we were doing is taking pictures I thought I would break the rooms down one by one. I must warn everyone this house is the leader in the “Cult of the Filth” so have your life insurance paid as you view these pictures. You can see the before images of the filthy kitchen which we recently encountered. First notice the unclean stove ready to haunt anyone entering the kitchen. Who would ever want to cook a meal on that? The refrigerator was not working so that was sent to the salvage yard for scrape (as was the unclean stove). Glance with caution at the image showing behind the stove as it looks like it hasn’t been cleaned for many long years.

You will notice that there were many floor tiles in the kitchen that will need to be replaced. It is obvious that the previous occupant was not very clean and failed to maintain the house to standards.

The light and fan assemblies that were in the kitchen/dining room combination were in pretty bad condition and we decided to replace them with just a ceiling light. The fan in the dining area would hit the door of the cabinet when it was opened. The lights served much better for us.

We placed our refrigerator where the previous tenets frig was located and since it had a water supply line already run for the ice maker is was very convenient for us. Pam took a small cabinet that she had and placed it in the middle of the floor to use as an island for working on. This also is merely a temporary condition. The dining room area has the table and four chairs in it while her china cabinet had to be placed essentially in the kitchen. The counters at the breakfast bar cleaned up real good and once Pam put some of her items on it the area began to take on a new and exciting life of its own.

The French doors leading from the kitchen/dining room to the rear deck are in bad shape and will need to be replaced in the future. In the mean time at some point in the future we will be adding on a formal dining room for Pam but that will be later in time. Pam put some curtains up to the windows and it doesn’t look too bad. The floor was in such bad shape that we had to place a piece of wood over a section of it. Over the wood Pam put a carpet runner and it doesn’t look bad at all. It will do until we have the time and funds to redo the complete kitchen/dining area floor. At least now we have a complete kitchen and Pam can now unpack the remainder of her kitchen boxes.

While kitchen facilities may be nightmarish economically, it cannot be denied that it is the focal point of the home. This common ground deserves all the attention and the expense. A wise investment, besides the style factor that is so important these days, the utilities play a significant role. Property values are going to increase significantly, if the occasion arises to sell and relocate, maybe to greener pastures.

Begin planning!
It is important to be clear about what is expected from the new kitchen. Perhaps the layout of the old kitchen was limited. Smart space utility would turn it around. Structural alterations may be needed. If needed, a window and door may need to be bricked up if they are getting in the way. Plan the locations of the cooking range, worktop and the floor storage units, the sink and the overhead shelves. Size matters for sure and the older homes traditionally have smaller kitchen spaces, maybe 4 m X 3 m. It would be a test of imagination to figure out what goes where.

Sketch a detailed floor plan to scale to visualize what the arrangements would look like. What design would be feasible? Ventilation is crucial and lighting too. By bricking up the windows and door, I now got two complete walls. French doors would lead to the back garden.

Budget reasons made us decide that the plumbing expense may be reduced by keeping the worktop and sink in the same position. The fridge would remain where it was and the possibility was of more cupboards and working space with the two walls. A breakfast bar would also serve as a working table. The sketch being ready, the work could commence.

Installing the cupboards
You can imagine the mess while the builders were at work. Along with the plumber, the electrician and plasterer did their work. I was busy planning the cupboard positions. I know carpentry and would save some expense with the IKEA kitchen units. DIY experience does help.

At the end of the sink would be the breakfast bar in an L shape with two stools. Extra space came from the washing machine that was now in the bathroom.

Cupboards went next to the cooking range on the wall and floor, under the sink and above the sink. Frying pans, sauce pans and oven dishes need to be conveniently near the cooking area.

A feel of the outdoors
Along with the French doors leading to the back garden, an awning would create greater space dimensions and fuse the inner and outer ambiances.

If you visit the online store you will get to know how amazing collections of tiles we have in our store. You can choose the best one from their huge range of varieties. Quality wise almost all products are recommendable. Cost effective pricing added the value to it.

The range of cookers from well-known manufacturers Beko covers just about every form of cooking that there is. They supply freestanding cookers, range cookers, and microwaves, obviously, but they also make built-in ovens, built-in hobs, built-in microwaves, oven and hob packages, cooker hoods, and even a built-in warming drawer.

Take the free-standing cookers that Beko make. These are available in your choice of fuel types – gas, electric, or dual fuel – and a choice of 50cm or 60 cm widths. They have models with single ovens or double ovens, and you can choose between hob types of solid plate, induction, ceramic, or gas. The main oven can be of conventional design, fan assisted, or multi-function, and it can have steam cleaning and oven doors that you won’t have to clean so often, because as Beko says you want to spend your time cooking, not cleaning. Beko cookers are also available with catalytic liners to the ovens.

Depending on the model, the cookers can have a fully programmable LED display, mechanical timers, or high-efficiency gas burners. These cookers are available in A or A+ ratings, and Beko even let you select a cooker by their customer ratings of five star, four star and up, or three star and up, so you can make a choice based on what other users think. Colours available are white, silver, anthracite, and black, so there is a choice to suit every type of kitchen.

Range Cookers With Single Or Double Ovens

Beko also manufacture a selection of range cookers with single or double ovens, and hobs with as many as seven burners which helps to make easy work of big cooking. The ranges are supplied in stainless steel, silver, or black, and can be electric or dual fuel with options of induction, ceramic, or gas hobs. As you might guess, you will need more space for these cookers and they come in two widths of either 90cm or 100cm.

There is a wide choice of microwave ovens from Beko. These are available as either freestanding or built-in models, and they have been designed so that they match the Beko built-in ovens, keeping your kitchen stylish and co-ordinated. The microwaves have varying capacities from 17 litres via 20 and 23 litres up to a very large 25 litre model. There are also models with or without grills. Offered in stainless steel, black, white, or silver, the microwaves are either 700w or 800w and some are provided with a two year warranty.

Beko also make cooker hoods, and there are eight different models. Installing a cooker hood will reduce airborne grease, steam, and smoke in your kitchen and keep it cleaner. Any form of cooking on the hob is going to release particles into the air, so if you have a cooker hood to trap them it will keep your kitchen more healthy. The mechanical fan enables clean air circulation. The different types of cooker hoods are visor, telescopic, integrated, chimney, or canopy, and they come in widths of 50cm, 60cm, and 70cm.

When you start looking at built-in ovens there is a huge choice offering a variety of features. As Beko themselves say, it can be difficult to know where to begin when buying an oven, yet choosing the right one for your needs can make a huge difference to your family, enabling you to cook a wider range of meals and giving you more free time to spend outside the kitchen.

Single ovens allow you to bake, roast, and grill, but if you need to roast and grill at the same time you will need a double oven. Both types of oven can be fitted under your kitchen counter, but if you choose a double oven each one will have less space than a single oven in the same place. Ovens come with a range of different programme features, one of which is the Pyrolytic self-cleaning oven. This allows the oven to heat up to a super-hot 480°C which turns the grease to ash, and all you then need to do is wipe it with a damp cloth. Suddenly, oven cleaning becomes a thing of the past!

Beko make yet more cooking choices including built-in warming drawers. The best thing to do is to consider your needs and then take a look around the very extensive Beko website.

NewLife Appliances provides a wide choice of different cookers, ranges, and microwaves, many of them from Beko. The company offers great deals on new, graded, and refurbished appliances.

If you are considering buying a new cooker for your kitchen there are a number of things that you will need to take into account. A quality oven is a vital part of any home and you definitely need to put on your thinking cap before rushing out to make a purchase. After all, a new cooker is not a cheap item, so you need to be certain you buy the right one.

Part of the problem is that there are so many different brands from which to choose. The website Ranker which allows customers to review and vote for a range of different appliances, lists no fewer than 72 brands under cookers! These include all the well-known names such as Miele, Beko, De’Longhi, Bosch, Ariston, Hotpoint, Zanussi, Breville, and more, and also some names you may never have heard of such as Advance Tabco and Traulsen. Then there are names you know, but you may not have known that they make cookers: Black & Decker, for example.

Electric, Gas, Or Dual Fuel?

You may want an electric cooker, or you may want a gas cooker. You can also buy dual fuel cookers with a gas hob and an electric oven. You can buy cookers with self-cleaning ovens which is a very big plus: with some of these you heat the oven up to 480°C which has the effect of turning all the grease into ash and then all you have to do is wipe it out with a damp cloth. What a time saver! You can also buy cookers that have a higher than average wattage, so they can cook faster.

You can get built-in ovens, ovens that go under the counter top, and even smaller ovens that sit on top of the counter. Then there are ranges which are obviously larger as they usually incorporate at least two ovens and as many as seven different hobs. These are ideal for the large family, or for someone who does a lot of entertaining, but of course you need a kitchen large enough to accommodate them. They can often be 100 cm wide.

Then there are the different kinds of hobs. There are five types of hobs – ceramic, solid plate electric, induction, gas, and gas on glass hobs.

Ceramic hobs are electric and they heat up quickly. However, the heat distribution around the bottom of the pan is not as good as gas.

Solid plate electric hobs take some time to heat up and to cool down, so you can’t change the heat quickly as you can with gas. However, they do tend to be lower in price than other types of hob.

Induction hobs work by creating a magnetic field between the element in the hob and the pan. This causes the pan to heat up but not the surface of the hob. These are cheap to run because they only use the precise amount of electricity required, and they are very quick to heat up. However, you may have to change your pans if they are not suitable for an induction hob.

Gas hobs are the easiest to control because you can turn the flame up or down instantly. This is why they are so popular with professional cooks.

Gas on glass hobs have gas burners which are mounted on top of ceramic glass. They are easy to clean, and they look rather stylish.

Then there is the question of cost. If you are like most people you will have a budget which may leave out some of the more expensive cookers. Beko have a black ceramic four burner hob for only £159, while Neff offer an induction hob with five cooking zones, individual timers, a power boost, a keep warm zone, and a child lock. However, at £829 it may be beyond your budget.

Hotpoint cookers are available in a wide choice of styles and colours, and many of them are fitted with self-cleaning ovens, which is always a big benefit. They also produce some very big ranges with two ovens, warming ovens, and several hobs. These big ranges are gas operated and so have the ability to alter the heat at the touch of a knob.

NewLife Appliances is a specialist in all types of kitchen appliances including Hotpoint cookers. The company is able to offer new, graded, and reconditioned appliances at the best prices.

An outdoor kitchen is the ultimate dream for a lot of people who enjoy backyard entertaining. Imagine gathering your friends or family together for a summertime barbecue or a cozy winter cocktail party in the comfort of your own garden. Here are some great tips for designing your killer outdoor kitchen.

1. Design Ideas

Pinterest is a great resource to find design inspiration and to compile your plans. Simply go to pinterest.com, register an account, and type in “outdoor kitchen ideas”. There is a multitude of design options out there. Take a look at some of these tips!

Moern and Sleek
Concrete or rich colored woods are a great way to create a modern design aesthetic. Most classic or traditional kitchens use white-washed or light colored wood to create the look so go the opposite way for modern! Minimal furniture and features also help to create a modern feel. This also helps with maintenance and clean-up too. Check out these images for inspiration.

Classic or Country
White wood, blue accents, and exposed stone are a great way to give your outdoor kitchen rustic, classic appeal. Flowers and plants growing up the sides of walls or arbors are great for creating softness and a traditional appeal as well. Think of white-washed cabinets, pale-wood benches, and large rustic dining tables.

2. Grills

So many grilling options! There are 6 major types of grills to consider for your outdoor kitchen. Think about what you most enjoy cooking and what you can get the most use out of before choosing your grill.

Open Grills
This is the simplest set up of all grills. It consists of a metal or stone box with a heating element (wood, charcoal, gas) and a metal grate over the top of the box directly over the fire. Open grills are best for direct grilling over high heat and are best suited for quick cooking foods like kebabs, thin steaks and chops, and fish.

Covered Grills
Add a cover to the open grill and it allows you to add smoking and indirect grilling features to your outdoor grill. Covered grills are best for thicker steaks, rack-of-ribs, or whole chickens and ducks. You can also add different types of wood to your grill, close the lid, and let the meat slowly absorb the aroma of the wood.

Ceramic Grills
Ceramic grills are made of thick walls that allows heat to radiate off the side of the walls for even cooking. Ceramic grills are usually much deeper than typical grills and are generally used to cook bread (like flatbreads or India’s naan) directly on the side walls. The grill portion of ceramic grills are best suited for thin sliced meat, kebabs, fish, or veggies.

Rotisserie Grills
A rotisserie grill adds a rotating spit to the grill to allow for even cooking of thick slabs of meat or whole animals. Food is cooked slowly over several hours that results in crispy skins on the outside and tender, moist meat on the inside. Rotisserie grills are best suited for thick steaks, fatty meats, or whole animals like chickens, ducks, or even whole pigs (if your grill is big enough).

Smoker Grills
A smoker grill cooks meat on low heat for several hours over aromatic wood chips for flavorful and tender meat. The most common woods used for smokers include maple, hickory, mesquite, oak, and pecan. Smokers are best suited for tough cuts of meat that it slowly tenderizes while in the smoker. Meats like briskets and ribs are perfect for this.

Firepit Grills
A firepit grill allows your whole family to feel like you’re camping out right in your backyard! Firepit grills are just like campfires but with a metal grate positioned above the fire to cook food. The grates for the grills are height adjustable so that the food raised or lowered to be closer or farther from the fire. This makes firepit grills extremely versatile and can handle delicate foods like fish, veggies, and S’mores to thick cuts of beef and whole animals.

3. Appliances

Take a browse through these links for some ideas for your appliance purchases.

Pizza Ovens
Here is an affordable, moveable outdoor pizza oven.

Grilling Space
This is a comprehensive, versatile grill designed especially for outdoor use.

Beverage Center
This is a great option for those who really want to entertain! Store your drinks and drink accessories in a sleek design.

4. Furnishing Ideas

There are so many options to consider when it comes to furnishing. Will you go for a table and chair configuration, or a bench and stool set-up? Consider what kinds of gatherings you will use your kitchen for to help you decide which is best.

Color: try to think about what color scheme you will like and enjoy throughout the years. You don’t want to choose a bold, crazy color palette that you end up tiring of after one season. If you want a bold, bright touch, use interchangeable pillows, cushions, and throws. You can choose, bright appliances or flowers to add color too. That way, your base palette remains neutral while adding add splashes color that are easy to change out.
Fabric: Obviously, you need to choose a weather-resistant fabric for your outdoor furnishings, especially if there is a minimal overhead cover. Treated canvas and Olefin fiber are good choices for outdoor furniture.
Shade Sails and Covers: It is important to protect your appliances and furniture from the weather and potentially harsh elements. If you live in an extreme climate, consider the kind of protection you want to use for your outdoor kitchen. You can build awnings to shade the patio area or you can build a structure, like an arbor or pergola. Basically, this has a sturdy roof and side pillars. You can also install weather-resistant curtains to the side pillars that you can pull closed to act as walls if you’d like some privacy in your patio.
Finishing Touches: once the heavy appliances and furniture pieces are installed, take a step back and think of what else space needs. Here are some ideas for finishing touches:
- Ornaments

- Lamps

- Small side-tables

- Decorative trays and bowls

- Vases and good-quality fake flowers

- Water-resistant throws and blankets for winter months

5. Money-Saving DIY Options

You don’t need to rely on the expertise of others for every aspect of your outdoor kitchen needs. You can handle some of it yourself if you’re up to it!

Use recycled wood and old furniture/benches from second-hand stores or yard sales. Upcycle it yourself and get to work making your chairs, benches, or shade sails.
Go out and find weather-resistant fabrics from fabric stores or furniture sales. You can re-upholster your outdoor furniture to suit your own personal aesthetic.

Every once in a while, especially during vacations, families, and friends would check in at a fancy resort or hotel. Ideally, these luxury hotel rooms would be able to fascinate you with all their high-tech gadgets, widescreen televisions, automated doors and more. Any hotel that provides this service would often be costly. Why spend a lot to go to fancy hotel rooms when you can bring that experience to your very own home? There are many ways to turn homes into high-tech hotel-like rooms and those with the budget can start by getting these items:

Smart TV’s

Smart TV’s are not uncommon in the market. In fact, visiting the nearest electronics store will display their latest smart TV’s available. Aesthetically, a large smart TV would be the ideal option to make your homes look like a luxury hotel. Almost the options across different brands are similar so you have the freedom to choose which suits you best. Some allow you to browse through the net through voice activations. Others will detect specific hand gestures to operate commands.These smart TV’s will only get better as the years pass by.

Digital Keys

Hotels either have the usual physical keys for their locks or card keys that you can swipe. However, these can be a hassle especially in the case where they get misplaced. Fancier hotels, on the other hand, use digital keys that can be accessed usually through phones. There are two ways this can work. The first is similar to the concept of a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). Instead of actually having the card, an app of the phone can imitate that concept so you would not need the actual card. The second way would be through Bluetooth. There are high-tech locks that will automatically open once they detect your phone’s Bluetooth ID nearby so you can just walk right in without doing much.

Voice-Activated Rooms

So once you get into your home without touching anything, the next thing you might want to do is to turn on the lights still without touching anything. How? Voice activation. It is popular in the movies and fancy hotels. With just a short speech command, anything with that is voice-enabled will do its job. It is the step towards making Jarvis, artificial intelligence (AI) assistant of Tony Stark in popular comic book and movie, Iron Man. Wynn Las Vegas just recently integrated about 5,000 of their rooms with Echo, a voice-controlled speaker, allowing guests to easily communicate with the front desk or turn appliances on by simply telling it to do so.

Automation

In line with the voice-activated rooms, automation enabled by robots or AI, just like Echo, will further provide efficiency for anyone in the room. Automation is usually defined as something that turns on and off by itself. However, it goes beyond. Automation really is about technology allowing itself to be engaged only when needed to. To an extent, getting your room automated can even save a lot of money on the electricity bills.

Wireless Charging

Having a lot of wires tangled up in the room would be tedious to untangle. It can even break and cause you to buy new ones. With wireless charging, you save up space from not needing wires and you don’t always have to be near the sockets anymore. Some tables and desks in hotels have built-in chargers that when phones are nearby, they automatically charge.

Projector TV’s inside the Bathroom

This is perfect for anyone who likes taking their time when doing their business or just enjoy taking a bath. Make that an even better experience by having TV’s projected in your very own bathroom. A cheap trick would be through the use of mirrors on the ceilings. Match this with your Smart TV and you virtually do anything with it, play music with Spotify, watch YouTube videos, browse the internet, and more as if you have never left the living room.

Versatile Bathroom Walls

More on to the bathrooms, it can even be further upgraded, even down to the walls. Usually, bathrooms anywhere would be divided by glass walls that are translucent or can be covered by blinds. With chrome-enabled bathroom walls, you would not need any of those. With a push of a button, the bathroom wall can either be made translucent, transparent or just plain matte. This way the bathroom looks even more spacious when the walls are made transparent.

Exterior wood restoration is a service that is becoming extinct. Instead of actually restoring wood many contractors and homeowners are choosing to just “paint over” the natural beauty of the wood or merely just “cleaning” the wood. Let’s look at this more closely.

We now live in a culture where everyone wants easy, the first thing about true exterior wood restoration is that it is NOT easy. This service can be involved and takes a lot of labor and skilled workmanship. The methods of restoring wood by hand, using a pressure washer as a rinsing tool only and restoration products, or media blasting are much more involved than merely painting over the surfaces or cleaning by many of today’s methods which may lead to significant damage and premature degradation of the wood. Another item to understand is that it is costly to maintain a wood structure like a deck, wood sided home, or log cabin. The nice feature about wood restoration though is that the wood will wear and can be cleaned and re-coated. When you paint over a surface you lose the wood look and cover the grain, beauty, and natural characteristics of the wood. Another negative is that solid stains and paints will peel, this is a characteristic of these product lines. When this happens from time, wood rotting, improper surface preparation, moisture, or another reason you have a look that is not pleasurable from an appearance stand point but, you also have a harder time prepping and re-coating over top of these products.

There is a rule of thumb in this industry, “You should never apply a good coat over a bad coat.” This means that trying to hide an issue by merely painting over a problem usually just compounds the problem. With wood surfaces this may mean even more or excessive peeling if the wood surfaces are not properly prepped prior to re-coating. There may be stripping, sanding, or a primer coat applied first before actually applying a finish coat. Many painters and contractors do not know how to correctly restore wood and look to just “paint over” the surfaces without proper preparation. They also may sell this service because it is “easier” for them and do not know how to inform the customer on proper wood restoration and future maintenance that may be LESS costly in the future. One factor is that many do not seek the proper education to be able to perform this service and that leads to painting over a surface or performing it in a sub-standard way. Sealing and staining techniques ARE different than painting techniques to achieve optimal appearance. There is also more involved in knowing the many different types of cleaners, strippers, brighteners, and restoration products to be used in the many scenarios these contractors face on different projects. It is not a one type of cleaner or one type of stripper for every job. Knowing the different products to use in the different scenarios is truly a skill and results in some magnificent results!

Today there are contractors who offer a service to “clean” wood surfaces but in fact they may be causing damage rather than proper cleaning or wood restoration. When wood grays naturally it is the surface wood fibers that have degraded. In wood restoration, these wood fibers are removed to expose the natural tone of the wood underneath. If these wood fibers are not removed and are sealed or stained over you will get a blotchy look in a few short months. If it is “cleaned” improperly, it will only look good for a short time before becoming blotchy again as some of the wood fibers naturally wear away and others do not. Today there is a term called “soft washing” which means that stronger chemicals are used to achieve a level of cleanliness without the need of pressure that may damage a surface. This is an excellent method in roof cleaning but not necessarily in wood restoration. What actually ends up happening is that in many cases is strong amounts of bleach are sprayed on the wood surfaces that only “bleach” or” lighten” the existing grayed wood fibers so that it looks good “now” and is left in the wood. To expand on this a look a bit deeper, proper wood restoration involves pre-wetting of wood so that when a cleaner, stripper, brightener, or any restoration product is applied it remains close to the surface where it needs to be to “work” on items like organic growth and old coatings. Pretty simple, wet the wood and fill the wood cells so that the products do not absorb into the wood and past the surface where they are needed. They want to remain on or near the wood surfaces to be most effective. Wood is soft, and it will act like a sponge when the products and chemicals are applied to dry wood. This means they get deep into the wood where it is very difficult to rinse the chemicals out. The problem here is that chemicals left in the wood will dry the wood out and lead to a shorter life and will degrade the wood faster. Chemicals also left in or on the wood surfaces may also affect the coating that may be applied leading a blotchy appearance or a coating failure. Another factor to consider is that these strong solutions have led to many reports of landscape damage and unnatural appearance or “white” looking wood.

Exterior wood restoration is service that when correctly performed is becoming an extinct service. Understanding that this service can be involved and initially costly and is not a “cheap” or “quick” service is important. In the long run, painting over wood surfaces or improper cleaning may lead to less than desirable appearances and damage. If you add to the equation all the new manufactured materials like composites and PVC you see the need for wood restoration to dwindle as well. If your desire is to have a beautiful wood structure that enhances the look of the wood it is getting harder to find truly great wood restoration professionals.

The purpose of a home inspection is to determine the condition of the home at the time of inspection. The inspection report is often used in determining the value of a purchase, and presents an opportunity to negotiating price and repairs that may be required.

There are various types of inspections services. Buyers who want a house they are considering to purchase to be inspected. Sellers (or listing inspections), who want their house inspected to identify and correct issues before placing their home on the market. Phased inspections, which are conducted during various construction phases on a house under construction. Warranty inspections which are usually performed 11 months after the initial construction while the house is still under a builder’s warranty.

An inspection covers an inspection of structure, roofing, electrical, plumbing, heating and air conditioning, and appliances. Inspectors are required to inspect only items that are visible and accessible. Two story roofs are generally considered inaccessible and are inspected from the ground. Inspectors are not allowed to perform invasive inspections. They are not allowed to open walls or ceiling to determine issues hidden behind the walls.A professional inspector will incorporate the latest technology such as thermal imaging to assess the general condition of the home.

Home inspectors are similar to primary care physicians, except that home inspectors are not permitted, by law, to work on houses they inspect. Primary care physicians will refer their patients to a specialist for a more thorough exam and treatment. Home inspectors will likewise refer their client to a specialist when it is warranted. As stated, home inspectors are not allowed, by law, to work on homes they inspect. This is for the protection of the client. They don’t have to worry that the inspector is finding issues with the hopes of being able to make additional money through repairs.

The typical home inspection is limited to the house and garage. It does not include pools, hot tubs, lawn sprinklers, wells, septic, and out buildings. These are add-on costs. Some require additional training and licensing on part of the home inspector.

The role of the home inspector is simply to inspect and report. A home inspector should not make recommendations about who should make the repair or whether the client should buy the house, or what should be negotiated with the seller. We recommend that the client consult with their realtor who will assist them in making these decisions.

If you have any questions on what is covered in a home inspection or if you have questions on a existing report please feel free to contact us. You can submit all questions on our contact page.

Buying your own shelter is definitely an achievement in itself. But purchasing the right home is not at all easy. There are many things that should be taken into consideration. By hiring a home inspector a proper evaluation of a particular property can be done. This helps to recover any issues and indicate them before one can spend on the house or probably move into them. So, follow this article to find out some of the home inspection tips that can help you spend your money wisely.

Attend the Home Inspection

When a property is being inspected by a real estate agent you should surely attend the inspection. The inspection will take just a few hours. By doing that you would be able to get all the information correctly from the inspector. This will help you find all the issues personally and can save you from making a costly mistake.

No Follow-Up

If issues are found then the inspectors might suggest you some repairing. If you feel they are not much then you can find out the estimate that might be incurred. In some instances, the first home inspector whom you approach might want to take suggestions from another service provider. This can actually be good and help you get a proper third opinion. So, wait for the opinion so that you are ensured about your choice.

Do Not Rely Only On the Inspector

If you have a suspicion you can always go for a professional checkup. This will help you determine in a better way. Another thing that you should be going for is a termite inspection. This will find out if there are termites in the place. So, there will be chances that you will be staying protected from making costly repairs after buying a home.

Home Inspection For New Homes Too

We often think that a newly built home does not need inspection. But we are wrong. This step is very important and should not be avoided. This will indicate how the building has been built and if there are any imperfections.

Additional Tests for Older Homes

If you are buying an older home then you might have to check other things. The tests that should be done are running a camera through the drainage lines, a hydrostatic test in the drains might help to find out leakages in the drainage system. It is one of the important things to remember.

When the sun starts to shine brighter and the flowers start to bloom, it gives you a feeling of happiness and restoration. You want to create new things and start new projects because you feel revived. The same goes for your home. Spring will be here sooner than you think. So now is a good time to plan your spring time renovations.

When spring arrives many people do a deep clean of their house or want to renovate before the Christmas season comes. There are so many fun and interesting ideas that you can incorporate in your home renovation project. You can redecorate the lounge, change the floor tiles, or create a new kitchen.

Kitchens are always a room in the house that people want to fix up because it is the heart of the home. Great meals are made there and people spend a lot of time in the kitchen. The cabinets are the most popular change to make because it brings the whole room together as a whole. Decide what colour you want and carry this colour through all the way. The cabinets, door handles, drawers and tiles should all tie in the chosen colour. A kitchen door with glass is a good touch because it brings more light inside. Decide on the design. It could be a classic design or modern, or perhaps eccentric. Modern designs with light colours and curves incorporated are popular at the moment.

The lounge is another room that benefits from major renovations. You can be creative in this room. If you have a design in mind, stick to it. The modern designs such as monochrome and bright colours are popular. These two styles are miles apart but it all depends on your preference. The monochrome black and white colours create a neat and clean interpretation of your home. Whilst the bright colour combinations such as red with white, or orange with yellow, or chocolate brown with aqua, give your home a lively feel. Don’t forget that the front door forms part of the lounge, so it needs to be upgraded too. For a modern house the large pivot doors are glamorous and stylish. They have a certain appeal to them.

If you plan on doing any renovations this spring, take this time to get your thoughts together. Then create the design in your head and plan it, so that it all comes together as a whole.